Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Leave Medicaid part of ObamaCare in place for now, just repeal and replace the part of ObamaCare that forces healthy people into plans they can't use because deductibles and premiums are so high-Betsy McCaughey, NY Post

Since several Republican senators are balking at changing Medicaid,
GOP leaders should pass the other half of repeal and replace, to rescue
consumers in the individual market. There’s no reason not to seize half a
victory.

Republicans have enough votes in both the House and Senate to pass a
bill that gives consumers choices, premium relief and generous
protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

There’s a consensus that people with pre-existing conditions should
be able to get insurance and not be stuck paying out of pocket more than
anyone else. Republicans and Democrats agree on that. The issue is who
pays the hefty price tag for their care.

Healthy people would pay in, but never reach their sky-high
deductibles. Instead, premiums extorted from them would be used to cover
the huge medical bills for the chronically ill. Call it “extortion
care.”

Republicans in both the House and Senate have devised a fairer way: a
pot of federal money ($130 billion in the House plan and $182 billion in
the Senate version) available to help pay premiums for people with
pre-existing conditions. It’s fairer because the entire nation chips in,
rather than forcing healthy people stuck in the individual market to
overpay.

ObamaCare also forces people to overpay for benefits they don’t want —
“10 essential benefits” such as contraceptives and drug-abuse
counseling. Essential for whom? The law’s defenders call anything less
“junk insurance.” As if Washington knows what you need.

And things are only getting worse. Health insurers are asking for
giant rate increases this fall, even as high as 50 percent in
Connecticut, Maryland and Virginia. Ouch.

If members of Congress were feeling the same pain, they’d be more
focusedon repealing and replacing the collapsing law. But they’ve got a
sweetheart deal. Even though the Affordable Care Act requires them to
purchase their coverage on ObamaCare exchanges and follow the same rules
as the rest of us, former President Barack Obama set up a way for them
to weasel out of it: They get to choose from 57 gold plans and have John
Q. Public pick up most of the tab.